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SPACE 

Satellite

£100m 

Leicester Space
Centre

£14.8b

UK space industry

27%

Growth in space manufacturing

6x

More R&D intensive

117K 

Jobs supported

The Midlands Innovation partners have collective strengths in the academic disciplines that apply to 'space' in its broadest sense.

These range from advanced materials and aerospace engineering, astrophysics and earth observation/environment, through to laser physics, management, manufacturing, metrology, planetary exploration, space instrumentation and space system design.

These collective strengths are supported by space and space-related research equipment and facilities that include additive manufacturing, anechoic chambers, cleanrooms, High Performance Computers, mechanical workshops, optical characterisation, surface analysis tools, ultraprecision machining/metrology, vacuum bakeout, vector network analysers and wind tunnels.

The group come together to explore opportunities for collaborative research, discuss training and skills needs for the space sector and how best to utilise the diverse range of space-related equipment housed across the partnership.

Download The Space Report - A Summary of Expertise

Space rocketsAt Leicester our space research and Leicester Space park are a major priority. Working with the Midlands Innovation team to bring together the Midlands-wide academic community has the potential for some exciting research collaborations.

Professor Martin Barstow, Leicester University

The Midlands and space

The UK Space industry is valued at around £14 billion, a significant sector in the British economy, supporting almost 42,000 jobs across a range of industries including broadcasting, communications, defence and many more.

The Midlands plays a vital role in the UK's space industry -  the region has long and enviable record of involvement in space science. The first Midlands built instrument in space was launched aboard a Skylark rocket in 1961 and there has been at least one piece of Midlands built equipment operating in space every year since 1967. 

Today, the government, regional and smart specialisation strategy brings together local expertise and strategic opportunity, and this has resulted in Space being identified as an area of key strategic opportunity for the Midlands.